Me, My Brother, and MG - a Column by Allen Francis

You must love yourself to keep a healthy lifestyle. But I don’t exercise enough; in fact, I have 20-pound dumbbells collecting dust in a corner of my small condo here in Manila, the Philippines. I decided to ask my twin, Aaron, about his exercise routine, partly for inspiration. Aaron was…

My twin brother, Aaron, was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) in 1999. He told me that he wants to offer advice and ideas to those newly diagnosed with the condition. There was even less awareness about MG in the late ’90s and early ’00s than there is…

I don’t have kids. It’s a decision I don’t regret. However, I come from a large family consisting of nine children, 10 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. It was a large household, and with a few exceptions, most of my siblings live relatively close to each other. I was surrounded by…

I abhor asking for help. That doesn’t mean I’ve never asked for help in my life, though. Far from it. As a grown man, I pride myself on trying to do the best I can on my own. I like believing in this ideal, but it is far from the…

My twin brother, Aaron, was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis (MG) in 1999. It was a moment that changed both his life and my own. Aaron was 24 at the time and worked as a manual laborer but hadn’t decided on a career yet. MG limited what Aaron could do…

I used to have a quote on my Facebook page that said, “Don’t take life too seriously; none of us is getting out alive.” To my ear the last part of that quote is pretty nihilistic, and I’ve only understood the seriousness of it as I’ve been getting older. I…

Along with the certainty of death and taxes, life is mostly about mitigating stress and finding peace within the chaos. As we navigate life, uncertainty abounds, and some of us deal with more of it than others. I’m learning that young people say we huff “copium” when grappling with uncertainty,…

Is escapism a way to cope with reality or, as the word implies, an attempt to slowly and permanently escape from it? Does escapism have levels to it, and when is it dangerous? I’ll admit I’m an escapist. I’m a former pothead who lost way too many brain cells to…

Talk show host Conan O’Brien, among many others, once said, “When all else fails, there is always delusion.” As human beings, we want to believe what we want to believe, even when red flags and truth indicators warn us of the contrary. It can be comforting to embrace delusion when…

The writer and editor Christy Leigh Stewart, who lives with a terminal illness, once said, “Remission is not a cure. It’s an adjective of disability.” In other words, remission from a disease refers to a temporary reprieve from symptoms. There’s a lot I’m still learning about my twin brother,…